Not perfect yet, but it's getting there

Well, it's been six months with my Droid and here are my observations:
In general, the phone has been pretty solid. It works WONDERFULLY as a phone, which is the primary duty. Internet and 3G performance are fast and never seem to lack coverage. I've had no problems connecting to several different types of Bluetooth devices. I took excellent footage at a recent concert, so the cameras (video and still) are pretty good. The app developers are doing a lot better and I'm starting to see more quality apps emerge on par with the offerings from iTunes (although, the Android Market still has a ways to go). The difference is that more established developers are cross-developing for both platforms now. If I had to make a phone purchasing decision all over again today, I'd probably get the Droid X or HTC Incredible (obviously, this Moto Droid is now dated unless they offer it for nothing or next to nothing. The point is, I'd still choose an Android phone. More on that later...)

It can't all be peaches and cream, so here are some shortcomings I've encountered:

Software updates are slow to come. It's not even so much that they're slow to release so much as slow to release for all Android phones. Imagine if Microsoft released new versions of Windows based on your computer manufacturer. Different manufacturers get different dates. HP gets the latest Windows in January, Dell gets it in March, Acer in September... That's what it feels like to watch newer Androids or the Nexus (more on that later) get the updates first and the rest of us wait our turn. I waited forever for Flash 10.1 for Android, only to discover it only works with Android 2.2. And Moto Droid doesn't have it and won't for the foreseeable future. So much for the so-called "Flash advantage". This thing digests Flash about as well as an iPhone or iPad right now.

There are some glitches that have stuck around for an alarmingly long time. One of the biggest is the random disappearance of contacts from both my device and online contact list. A contact (or several) will just randomly disappear from both places. Other people have complained of this and I've had the problem since first purchasing the phone in February. I thought it was me until it started recently occurring again. This alone caused me to bump a star off. I needed to contact someone in a hurry, only to find them deleted from my phone and online contacts. This could be catastrophic if you're not around a backup contact list. Another long-lived glitch is the inability to properly clear your tracks in the market. Every search you ever make in the market is saved, FOREVER. So if you, or someone fiddling around with your phone, makes a search, the search term remains in the history, with no way to clear it other than a third-party app that I'm reluctant to try. I can't believe they haven't fixed this yet. Just imagine if EVERY web search you've ever made was saved, with no way to clear it. All someone had to do was hover over the search field and every search ever made by you appeared. That would kinda stink of lack of privacy, wouldn't it? Well, there you go.

Battery life seems to have gotten shorter as the apps increased, even regularly using a task killer.

Skype, Yahoo, and other apps break when wi-fi is enabled (skype - wi-fi = what's the point?...)

I'm also tired of Google being more focused on their own branded Nexus than other Android phones. It almost seems as if Google only cares about the Nexus and the other Android phones are an afterthought. I understand The Nexus is their phone and all, but if that's how they choose to treat other phones, then they should have kept their OS to themselves. They're trying to have their cake and eat it too.

So, with all this said, why would I still buy another Android? Because it's the only option on Verizon right now and I'm hopeful they Google will get their stuff together. Google really needs to quit trying to match iPhone sales with Android devices and focus on tweaking the OS and improving the update system. My disdain for AT&T prevents me from ever returning to them, but if Android doesn't get some of these annoying issues resolved in the near future, I'll definitely go my previous iPod Touch/Blackberry/regular phone route again. Yes, it stinks to have to carry so many devices to make sure stuff gets done correctly, but my patience is wearing thin. On second thought, make that a TWO star drop....